The surface fleet will be reduced to the six Daring (Type 45) class anti-air warfare destroyers (shown here) and the 13 Duke (Type 23) class anti- submarine frigates.
off one of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s Bay class dock landing vessels and RFA Largs Bay has now been sold to Australia to plug the gap caused by the sudden need to decommission the two Kanimbla class amphibious warfare ships and their replacement by the two Canberras. Te Royal Marines’ 3 Commando Brigade will continue to provide an element of the nation’s high-readiness Response Force and the amphibious force will still be capable of deploying a 1800-strong commando group. Te submarine force escapes relatively
Worse still, from the Treasury viewpoint, the decision to abandon the Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) of the Joint Strike Fighter (Lockheed F-35 Lightning II) for a cheaper Conventional Take-Off and Landing (CTOL) version, means that the carriers will have to be redesigned to accept catapults and arrester gear.
CTOL benefits The CTOL F-35 has a longer range, greater payload and better hot weather performance, and a CTOL version brings the Navy in line with the Royal Air Force. The carrier-version will not only be cheaper but will cut through-life costs by around 25%. It will also allow greater interoperability with US and French carrier aircraſt. Te Alliance had envisaged the need
for a CTOL aircraſt, but not for at least a decade after
the carriers entered
service; this will delay completion of the vessels, and increase costs, although the current policy is to have only one ship in service and the other in reserve, possibly rotating European carrier support with the French. Te single British carrier will therefore
routinely have 12 F-35s embarked for operations but will still be capable of deploying up to the 36 as previously planned. The air group will depend upon the mission, allowing the carrier to
Warship Technology July/August 2011
support a wide range of operations, but the fixed-wing component will be augmented by rotary-wing aircraſt including up to 12 Chinook or Merlin transports and eight Apache attack helicopters. However, a CTOL configuration might make possible a fixed-wing airborne warning and control aircraft, rather than the rotary-wing solution originally planned. HMS Illustrious remains in service,
certainly until 2014, acting as an amphibious assault ship, augmenting HMS Ocean which will then replace her. One of the two Albion class dock landing platforms will be placed ‘at extended readiness.’ Te SDSR also decided to pay
unscathed, with seven nuclear-powered Astute attack submarines and four ballistic missile boats. To save £500 million no replacement warheads will be developed for the ballistic missile submarines until at least the late 2030s, while the number of Trident missile warheads in the Vanguards will be cut from 48 to 40, reducing the national nuclear deterrent from about 160 to 120 warheads. Te Vanguards will continue operating until the early 2030s and it is planned that the first ‘Successor’ submarine will join the fleet in 2028, four years later than originally planned. Te initial design phase began in May
although the missile compartment, being designed by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat as a common unit with 12 tubes for the equivalent US Navy platform SSBN-X, will have only eight tubes (half the number in the Vanguards), thus saving £250 million. Although the SDSR speaks of four Successors it also notes that only
The future of at least one of the Royal Navy’s new carriers remains in doubt. 17
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